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The fortune: Friends Barbara Bradley Baekgaard and Patricia R. Miller founded Vera Bradley in Fort Wayne in 1982, building a handbag and luggage company on quilted cotton patterns into a national lifestyle brand; the company went public in 2010. Baekgaard remained a director for more than forty years before moving to a Director Emeritus role in March 2025, and she also founded The Bradley, Fort Wayne's boutique hotel. The company's business entry is in the Business section.
The giving: The founders' philanthropy is a single, focused river. After their friend Mary Sloan died of breast cancer, Baekgaard and Miller began raising funds for breast cancer research in 1993 and established the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer as a nonprofit in 1998. The foundation's own 2025 annual report puts its donations to research at $41.7 million, nearly all of it to the Vera Bradley Foundation Center for Breast Cancer Research at the Indiana University School of Medicine, its partner since 1999 (the foundation's audited statements put contributions to Indiana University at $40.226 million since 1999). Indiana University's 2026 account of the partnership states the commitment differently — more than $50 million committed, over $43 million raised — counting pledges as well as payments; both figures stand here as their publishers state them. No publication has printed an estimate of either founder's personal net worth, and none appears here.
Sources:
- Vera Bradley, Inc., GlobeNewswire release, March 14, 2025 — Baekgaard's emeritus transition; the 1982 founding with Patricia Miller; the foundation's establishment and $41 million raised.
- Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer, 2025 Annual Financial Report and audited financial statements (years ended January 31, 2025 and 2024) — $41.7 million donated; $40.226 million to Indiana University since 1999.
- Indiana University School of Medicine (2026) — the partnership since 1999; more than $50 million committed; over $43 million raised.